The Belarusian President sent greetings to his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko as the country celebrated Independence Day on August, 24.
According to the message of greetings, a high level of bilateral relations and a centuries-long joint history determine the true nature of the Belarusian-Ukrainian cooperation at the present stage.
“I genuinely value the established mutual understanding between us and will be glad to see this constructive dialogue aimed at further strengthening of cooperation between Belarus and Ukraine continue,” state-run newsw agency BelTA quotes Aliaksandr Lukashenka as saying.
Ukraine has celebrated its National Day amid ongoing fights in the east between National Guard of Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists.
Will Minsk help to eliminate the conflict?
On August 26, Minsk will host a meeting of the heads of the states of the Eurasian trio (Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan) with Mr Poroshenko. It will also be attended by three representatives of the European Commission.
At the meeting in Minsk, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko is willing to hold negotiations on peace, for "the whole world is tired of war".
"Ukraine strives for peace," the Ukrainian President said in the course of a working visit to Mykolaiv.
The President said that Ukraine would urge to withdraw militants from its territory at the meeting. "I am confident that we will manage to achieve that," Poroshenko said.
"To have a strong negotiating position on peace, we must be strong, have the unity of people, a powerful country and a strong army," he stressed.
"We are capable of defending our sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity. Today, we are fighting for the independence of Ukraine. We will certainly win," Poroshenko added.
